CHICAGO — The Cubs need the bottom of the order to pick the team up.
With Aramis Ramirez out until the first week of July, somebody has to pick up the slack. Lou
Piniella doesn't think all the pressure should be put on the middle of the order.
"Last year, one of the reasons our team was so successful was we probably got as much, or more, production out of our sixth, seventh and eighth hitters as anybody in baseball,"
Piniella said. "That hasn't been the case this year. The injury to Ramirez makes us a little
more vulnerable at the end."
That'll give FOX TV broadcasters Joe Buck and Tim McCarver plenty to talk about Saturday in
Game 3 of the Cubs' four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. They can show
highlights from Thursday's game, when the Cubs had the bases loaded with one out in the ninth but the Nos. 7 and 8 hitters, Bobby Scales and Jake Fox, both struck out to end the game. On Friday, Derrek Lee and Micah Hoffpauir were both on base in the second, and the Dodgers' Chad Billingsley retired the next three — Nos. 6, 7 and 8 on the lineup card.
The Cubs did see some promise Friday, however, when Koyie Hill, who was batting seventh, hit a game-tying home run in the seventh inning that led to a 2-1 win over the Dodgers.
It's obvious teams count on the middle of the order. Lee has picked up the pace in the last
week, and Milton Bradley has hit in 14 of his last 18 games. Kosuke Fukudome has been the
one consistent hitter. Piniella is looking for more.
"If you just depend on one, two or three hitters to hit, you're going to struggle," Piniella
said. "You need contributions. Obviously, you'll get more contributions from certain people,
but everybody has got to contribute. And when we've won baseball games this year, we've done just that. When we haven't, it's been more of a struggle."
Geovany Soto was one of the key bats in the bottom of the order last season en route to
winning the National League Rookie of the Year. He's off to a slow start, batting .218.
"It's a team," Piniella said. "We can all make excuses for everything. I'm not into excuse
-making. You put out a Major League lineup out there. Yeah, your big people are supposed to
do some carrying."
One player who could contribute if Piniella could find a place to put him is Jake Fox, who
was leading the Pacific Coast League in the Triple Crown categories of batting average, home runs and RBIs when he was called up.
"The problem with Fox is where do I put him?" Piniella said. "I would love to get him in the
lineup, the kid can swing the bat, I recognize that. Let's just see what plays itself out."